Reflections on Remembrance Day Lesson

 

     Reflections on Remembrance Day Lesson          November  9, 2020

 

One of my most dreaded topics to teach is Remembrance Day.  Remembrance Day for me is a very emotional celebration,  but not because I have lost any one to war or have been close to it.  The ceremonies, speeches, prayers, and all parts of Remembrance Day are just very sad.  Many ESL students come from war torn countries, so it’s not an easy topic for them as well, and we never know might trigger their own memories. So when I realized that I would be teaching a lesson on this topic as the first lesson of my practicum, I tried to focus on the positive.  How do Canadians celebrate it?  Why is it important to Canadians?  What is important for students to learn about the cultural aspects of it?  

 

Although the lesson was challenging for me to teach and may have been an emotionally charged topic for some of the students, I think it went OK. I think the video/slides on Remembrance Day vocabulary was good because the students did well in the definition matching exercise.  I thought that using videos about Remembrance Day in Canada might be a good starting point for discussions. I think the videos did work well because they gave the students a very broad picture and visual representation of what Remembrance Day is in Canada. I found that the questions about the videos did not always generate as much discussion as I had hoped for. The teacher suggested that I ask more specific questions, which may help the students narrow in on certain things.  She also suggested that I give very specific questions  before showing the video for the students to look for in the videos, which will help them focus, and be more attentive when watching. 

 

The teacher also told me that she uses translanguaging for creating the breakout discussion groups with the same language.  She says there has been a lot of research in this area which suggests that it works very well, and she has personally found that it really helps her students progress and build confidence.  So this is something I will remember for future teaching. 

 

Since the teacher was teaching a parallel class in the morning session, I asked her what she taught, and she has used a fill in the blanks about Remembrance Day with prepositions as the grammar focus.  So I must remember to incorporate grammar into the lessons where I can. 

 

I had a few technical glitches such as no sound on the videos I loaded because I was not the host.  Our work around was to have the teacher share her screen with the videos.  Also, was forgetting to press return when posting things in the chat room.  However, it does show the students we all make mistakes and that’s how we learn!  

Remembrance Day Lesson Plan
Date and Time: Nov 9 2020 Class and Level: CLB 3/4/5
Technology: Computer, Google classroom, Zoom Unit:  Canadian Culture Lesson: Remembrance Day Learning Outcome:  Students will have a greater understanding of what Remembrance Day is about in Canada.                Learning Objectives: Students will:  1) understand why we celebrate Remembrance Day in Canada  2) understand what the culturally norms are for celebrating Remembrance Day in Canada  3) use some of the language to describe Remembrance Day activities in Canada.   Resources: Adobe spark video (https://spark.adobe.com/sp/urn:aaid:sc:US:a26bd59a-de25-4aaa-bf9f-8c8d9eacc542?fmt=video),  CBC Remembrance Day video:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KDh7N9VG1kQ Inside Edition Remembrance Day video:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28RvhnK6X_I   Picture of my father-in-law.   Email vocabulary matching exercise so students have it.  Email asynchronous paragraph writing exercise question to students.
	Skill	Special Instructions	Estimated Timing	Teacher Reflections
Warm-up / Review: This activity helps students focus on what is good about Canada:  Peace and security being some of the qualities we enjoy in Canada.	Speaking	2-3 groups:  Discuss questions:  Why did you want to come to Canada?   What is special about Canada.	5 min	The questions generated good discussion.
Introduction:  Explain that today we will have a special lesson about Remembrance Day.  Ask what students know about Remembrance Day.  Use vocabulary words to assess what students know about Canadian culture around the celebration of Remembrance Day.	Writing/reading	Evoking Background knowledge of Vocabulary. One word at a time, give students vocabulary words for Remembrance Day on Chat (allow students to write out words). Have a large group discussion to assess students understanding of the vocabulary words: November 11, Remembrance Day, parade, wreath, prayer, songs, poppy, speech, soldier, peace, gathering, marching band, poem (In Flanders Field), minute of silence, veterans, fly past, salute	15-20 min	Many of the students had some background knowledge about R.D. but this was a good review.
Presentation:  Narrated video shows slides about Remembrance Day Celebrations in Canada using the vocabulary	Listening and Speaking	Show video/slide (Adobe Spark)  Show 2X if needed.  Large group discussion: What did you find interesting, or what was new information for you?	10-15 min	The question was not specific enough.  I think it would have been better to do as a powerpoint and stop at each slide.
Focused Practice: Students will match words to definitions based on the slide show. Appendix A:  Put on shared screen.	Reading/writing	Matching vocabulary words and definitions: vocabulary words with separate definitions/descriptions are given. Students write the vocab word matching the definition on paper:  Example: 1.     This red flower is the symbol of Remembrance Day.  Answer: poppy	5-10 min to do and 10 min to discuss	This worked well and the students did well.    Could also replace this will a fill in the blanks paragraph that focuses on prepositions (in, at, on).
Semi-focused Practice:    Students will first discuss  in breakout groups what they saw on the video and then use the vocabulary to create sentences describing events at RD.	Listening and speaking	Show: Remembrance Day Across Canada video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KDh7N9VG1kQ (watch to see Winnipeg) Breakout (groups of 3) and then large group discussions:  (put in chat box)  What happens at a Remembrance Day gathering? (How do Canadians celebrate Remembrance Day?)  Each group use the vocabulary words to create one or two sentence and add it to the Chat box (you can write it on paper before putting it on Chat).	5 min breakout 5 min to post answers	Give more of an introduction to the video. There was good discussion in my breakout room but not in some of the others. Need more specific questions to focus attention.   Use translanguaging breakout rooms.
Part 2: watch video why Remembrance Day is important and the poppy And discuss questions in small groups	Listening  speaking	Show Remembrance Day video:  What Is Remembrance Day and Why Is the Poppy its Symbol?https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28RvhnK6X_I Discuss in small groups: (put in chat box)  Why do Canadians celebrate Remembrance Day? Why is the poppy a symbol of Remembrance Day?	20 min	I think the questions were OK, but again should have more specific ones as well.
Filler Activity (if needed)	Listening	Talk about my father-in-law, a soldier in WWII	5-10 min	Not needed
Free practice/Application:Asynchronous Homework Google Classroom	Writing	Write a short paragraph (4-5 sentences):  How do Canadians celebrate Remembrance Day? Do you think it is important to celebrate Remembrance Day?  (put assignment questions in chat box)  Send email to students with the question and ask them to reply:    Remember to:  1)     use the vocabulary words from today. 2)     use complete sentences 3)     use proper punctuation 4)     use articles (a, an, the) 5)     check subject/verb agreement 6)     check verb tense.	30 min  Asynchronous Must be completed by 4  PM today	Some students were late.  But all knew how to reply to the email.  Most students only wrote 2-3 lines.  There were many grammar and punctuation errors. They all seems to have good general answers.

 

Appendix A: 

Remembrance Day Word Matching

 

 

Write the word from below that matches the definition.  

 

Definition	Word
1.     A red flower that is the symbol of Remembrance Day.
2.     People getting together in groups.
3.     People who play music together in a parade.
4.     A time when we are quiet and think of special people for 60 seconds.
5.     A person (soldier) who has served in the military.
6.     Airplanes flying in a special pattern for a ceremony.
7.     The special day on the 11th day of the 11th month.
8.     A way of showing respect, usually by raising your hand by your head.
9.     A group of people marching together for a special occasion.
10.  A special talk by someone about a person or thing.
11.  A special way of writing that is like a song but without music
12.  A circle of flowers and leaves for a special occasion.

 

Remembrance Day      wreath           poppy         speech           gathering          marching band

 

poem      parade            minute of silence        veteran          flypast            salute

       

 

Observation Journal and Report for TESL Practicum.

Part 1: Observation Journal: 

Observation Journal Report General Information 

Dates: October 21 to Nov 2, 2020

Times: Monday to Thursday 1-3 PM

Course:  LINC

Level: CLB 3/4/5

Lesson Topics: Living in our Community (Part 1: Invitations; Part 2 Housing)

Learning Outcomes: 

1) Accepting or declining a personal invitation in conversation following Canadian cultural norms 

2) Find housing that would be appropriate for their family and circumstances. 

Learning Objectives: 

Students are able to:

1) use accepted phrases for accepting and declining invitations in a casual conversation

2) understand Canadian cultural norms for invitations.

3) distinguish different types of housing and housing situations

4) understand how housing differs from their home country.

5) make decisions on what their needs were for housing.

6) choose housing that would be appropriate for their family based on needs.

Length of the Lessons: Synchronous online (1 ½ hours), Asynchronous (1/2 hour)

Number of Students: 18

Seating Arrangement: not applicable (online)

Spotlight on the Learners 

What patterns of attention can you observe? 

The students often get interrupted by small children and distracted with phones ringing or other things going on as all classes are online (Zoom). Being online for 1.5 hours can be tiring with no break, and concentration sometimes is lost with some of the students by the end of the class. 

What types of questions do learners ask? 

Learners usually ask clarification questions, questions about assignments.  Sometimes they ask specific information questions.  There are some students who never ask questions, and some students that always ask questions. 

What participation patterns can you observe? 

There are some students who actively participate in the class, some who occasionally participate, and a few who seldom participate unless they are asked.  Those that are more comfortable with speaking English are those that participate more.  There is a chat box on Zoom which the students can also post questions and answers, and this is used by students sometimes. 

Additional observations: 

Some students are quite hesitant to speak and ask questions, although over the weeks of observation, more students seem to be feeling comfortable about asking questions and participating.  One student doesn’t use the video feature and doesn’t participate due to special circumstances. 

Spotlight on the Teacher 

What is the balance of teacher-centered and student-centered activities? 

There seems to be about ½ and ½ teacher vs student centered. The teacher uses presentations, breakout sessions for discussion, large group discussion, questions/answers, and various other activities in the class. Some of these are on Avenue.ca, the new learning management system for ESL in Canada. The last 30 minutes of the class is always student centered with students completing an exercise asynchronously. 

How does the teacher confirm student comprehension? 

The teacher uses questioning to confirm comprehension. Sometimes this is done with a general question and sometimes it is directed to a specific student. She asks for students to repeat instructions, or repeat the information, or use the information correctly. 

How does the teacher adapt their speech to the level of the learners? 

Sometimes when the teacher is introducing new material, she speaks a bit slower than her normal speed, but usually she speaks at a normal speed.  She will often repeat what she says, to ensure the students are understanding, and she will repeat with different words, in case there is a vocabulary issue. She always repeats things in full sentences.

How does the teacher encourage student participation? 

Participation is encouraged by using a show of hands (which is really necessary when using Zoom), and then call on individuals. Some students tend to dominate the conversation, so she makes an effort to call on those that are less responsive. She is also very positive about participation, and really encourages students when they do participate.  She always takes time to answer all questions. 

Additional observations: 

If one student isn’t understanding something, she will allow another student to explain in the learner’s L1 for clarification.  The teacher has told me that she is constantly updating and changing class material to fit the specific class.  Every class is different. 

During assessments there was much explanation needed for some of the students to understand what the details of the assessment.  The teacher repeated instructions until the student understood. 

With online learning is new to most of the class (including the teacher), the teacher is very patient and very encouraging with technology issues.  Many times the class stops to wait for one student, and help is always offered by the teacher and fellow students. 

Spotlight on Error Correction 

What is the balance between activities that focus on fluency and accuracy? 

There is about a 50/50 balance of activities that focus on fluency and accuracy. The fluency activities are usually small group discussions, and accuracy activities are generally written activities. 

How often are errors corrected?

There is less correction of errors during discussion/questions and more emphasis on encouraging students to speak, especially shy students. If someone cannot think of the correct word during discussions/questions, the teacher will offer it.  Sometimes the fellow students will help as well.  If there are general errors in written assignments, the teacher will go over these with the whole class. 

What types of error correction are used? 

For written work, the teacher will correct specific errors (eg. spelling, punctuation).  Sometimes she will give general feedback to the class and ask the students to re-check their work for the errors. In speaking, the teacher will sometimes offer correction eg. subject verb conjugation, verb tense.  She will also use group error correction to go over common problems.  She tells the students “Don’t worry about errors- they are part of the learning”. 

Spotlight on Classroom Management 

What techniques does the teacher use to build rapport with the students? 

The teacher often has small talk with the students before class.  She gives very positive comments all the time and is very encouraging with difficulties.  There is always lots of help with technology issues.  She is very encouraging with assessments, as most students really dislike them and are scared of them. She tries to make them less overwhelming for students. 

How do students interact with each other? 

Students generally interact very well.  There is some small talk before the class starts. During the class they are very helpful to each other.  Some will help others in their L1 if they aren’t understanding.  They have become more comfortable with each other over the few weeks and will often offer comment on what another student says.  They are very open to small group discussions. Students must put up their hands for answer questions, and often the teacher has to remind them of this. 

Are there any interruptions to the learning and teaching? 

Interruptions are very common with online learning.  Many of the learners have small children at home with them, as well as older children and other family members and background noise is common.  Sometimes if there are students who won’t comply with muting, the teacher will mute everyone.  And most of them are in apartments which doesn’t allow for them to find a quiet space. There are also routine technical difficulties which will often stop the class until it’s worked out.  

How are interruptions handled? 

The teacher will ask all learners to turn their microphone on mute, unless they are speaking.  This usually helps with background noise.  For technical difficulties, the teacher will offer patient explanations, and other learners will often help as well.  

Additional observations: 

The teacher is open to giving additional time for some assignments.  However, there are some students who will push the limit, and she has to remind them all the time of when their homework is due. This is usually by 3 PM because they are supposed to allow for 30 min of asynchronous class time. 

Spotlight on Teaching Methods and Techniques 

What warm-up activities are used? 

Warm-up activities are often conversation on the specific topic of the day.  Sometimes the teacher will use an interesting video. 

What review activities are used? 

Review is usually a short discussion about the previous days work. Sometimes she will use a Powerpoint to review the material. If there are common problems evident on their homework, she will use this time to address it. 

How is new material presented? 

New material is usually presented with a video, a Powerpoint presentation or a short reading using Google classroom.  These are done on a shared screen. 

How is new material practiced? 

Material is practiced in a variety of ways. The teacher will usually do a question/answer discussion.  Gap-fill exercises and true and false worksheets and multiple choice are common. Jigsaw activities are also a favorite. The teacher will often use the chat box for students to post answers.  Students also answer questions from a video or reading. Students also practice speaking in small groups in breakout rooms. Avenue exercises and reading are also used with multiple choice questions. 

How is the lesson concluded? 

The students are usually assigned the homework for the asynchronous part of the class. Sometimes there is a quick summary of the day with focus on the important aspects.  The teacher will be available to answer questions about the assignment by email and sometimes on Zoom. 

What fillers are used? 

The teacher doesn’t usually need fillers, as I think she is very experienced with time management and know how long activities will take.  She has shown some videos to the class with discussion questions as one filler activity. She also will sometimes have small discussion groups with questions to fill time. 

Focus on Resources and Technology 

What learning materials do learners have? 

Since the class is all online (Zoom.com), all materials are accessed through either Google Classroom or through the learning management system (Avenue).  The teacher will also use Powerpoint, videos, and readings on Zoom. 

What resources are used during the lesson? 

The teacher uses Powerpoint slides to introduce new material, readings and worksheets are created or adapted by the teacher from various sources, and Youtube and Vimeo videos.  Avenue is also used for some activities. 

What technology is available in the classroom? 

The class is all online with students at home, so the students use what is available to them (smart phone, tablet or a computer). The teacher has a computer. Zoom is used as the main web-based communication with the teacher also using Avenue for readings and exercises. The teacher often used the chat box for giving and receiving information from the students.  Google Classroom is used for assigned homework as the students can easily send the completed work back to the teacher with it.  (While I’m teaching, I won’t have use of Avenue and the students won’t be able to return work to me via Google Classroom, so I will have to use a group email). 

What technology is used? 

The technology used is the same as what is available (see above). 

Are there any challenges observed in regards to resources and technology? 

Zoom is slow going back and forth from the breakout rooms and it is difficult for the teacher to monitor them.  Taking turns speaking on Zoom if often challenging, and requires using hands up and good cooperation from the students. Loading videos and using the split screen sometimes doesn’t work well and takes a while.  Students often have difficulties using Avenue, so they may need help with that.    Students on occasion have had difficulties logging into Zoom and have telephoned other students during the class to have access to the teacher’s help.  This is quite awkward but it works. 

Additional observations: 

Many of these students are literacy students with few technology skills, so it’s a steep learning curve for them and has required lots of patience from both student and teacher.  Students said “it’s very difficult to have classes online”, but they seem to be getting better at it and more used to it.

Part 2: Observation Report

Class observation is great learning experience.  I have volunteered in ESL classrooms for several years and found that it really helped me with the TESL courses.  The class that I observed for the practicum was a CLB 4/5 level, but the lessons are currently focused more on CLB 3. All 7 classes that I observed were online with 1.5 hours of online teaching on Zoom.com and Avenue.ca, followed by 0.5 hours of asynchronous class time. The class is made up of 18 women, most of whom are mothers, and many have young children at home with them. About half the class are literacy students. The units being taught focused on invitations and housing. The learning outcomes were 1) being able to accept or decline a personal invitation following Canadian cultural norms and 2) being able to search for housing that would be appropriate for their family.  Students learned cultural phrases for accepting and declining invitations, and different types of housing and housing situations, and made decisions on what their needs were.

Technology: This year with a switch to online learning in many classes, there has been a steep learning curve for both teachers and students. Technology and adopting it was really a big focus in the class.  Zoom was used as the predominate communication tool for the students, as well as the ESL learning management system Avenue and Google Classroom. Using these three tools the teacher has found very good ways to present material, have discussion groups, do assessments, have useful activities and give assignments. 

Student engagement: Maintaining the attention of a class online for 1.5 hours is really a difficult task. The teacher was very good at engaging students by keeping to topics which are very relevant and useful to the students.  She also was good at ensuring that there were no lags in the class by changing activities every 10-15 minutes to ensure the students don’t lose focus.  The use of videos, Powerpoint presentations, discussions and other activities were well mixed.  

Best practices in presenting material: Material was presented is a well-organized method, building the lessons from basic introduction to a more complex use and adoption of language in useful exercises, leading to very practical outcomes.  The teacher also challenged the students critical thinking by asking questions which make the students really think about what they are doing and what’s important in the information.  She had a very good balance in the types of activities, as well as the time used for teacher and student-centered activities. 

Responding to student’s questions: Many of the student’s questions were for clarification, and the teacher demonstrated that patience and respect should really be the focus of answering all questions. Some questions were related to student fears about assessments, homework and technology.  Acknowledging the students fears and difficulties and ensuring them that they are all part of the learning process for all of us, was a really important lesson for me.  

Classroom management:  Managing a class online is very different from in-person classes that I have observed, but in many ways they are also very similar.  Both have the problem of ensuring that all students have equal time to ask and answer questions.  Both require good organization and time management to ensure the students are engaged. Both require the use of ‘hands up’ to control discussions. Interruptions occur in both but were very common with this group, and the use of ‘mute’ is a very important part of classroom management. Building a rapport with your students is a bit more difficult online, but lots of laughs and smiles, and being open and accepting is still a big part of building rapport with your students. Lots of encouragement and positivity is very important!

Error correction: Error correction was done in many ways. General error correction with the class worked well with assignments.  Some error correction during speaking was used to ensure students are learning proper pronunciation, and they are accepting of it.  Fluency over accuracy  was very important during discussions to get students speaking as much as possible. 

I felt very lucky to have this teacher as a mentor.  While observing her class, I also learned so much about teaching online and what should work.  She is one of those teachers that students really love and love learning from, and really hope that I can someday be up to her standard of teaching.

Grammar: Putting it all together now!

'Grammar’ is a word that often instills fear in students from grade school to university, but it’s something we use every day.  Some of us are better than others at it, and we often don’t even think about it, until we have to get graded on it.

I was somewhat apprehensive about this grammar course, especially after speaking with a friend who had taken an in-person course several years ago. She described having to re-learn grammar. Actually, what she meant was having to relearn the terminology for grammar.  I have taken a good stab at learning some of the grammar terminology again, although I know I will need to brush up on it when teaching specific grammar points, in specific lessons.  So, after all of that, how do we put it all together for effective lesson planning.

This week we have reviewed three types of lesson plans. The first, PPP, meaning Present,  Practice and Produce, is a more traditional method of teaching which does more or less exactly as the name suggests: we present the material to be learned, we have the students practice the grammar, and then ask them to produce similar material.  The lessons are focused on accurately reproducing what is taught and is teacher-centered. There is not much focus on fluency.  Technically, all types of lessons really use this somewhat as a basis.  However, task-based lessons and skill based lessons have major differences from PPP.

Task-based lessons are really learner-centered and focus on the needs of the learners.  What do they need to learn to do for the real world?  Communicative language approaches are used and fluency in the task is the key focus. Elements of grammar are incorporated into the lesson.

Skills-based lessons focus on teaching a specific skill, such as reading or listening. For example, writing a paragraph about what you did on the weekend.  Grammar is also part of the lesson plan, and the teacher focuses on a key grammar point as part of the lesson. Students then reproduce that form. The focus, like PPP is more on accuracy than fluency.

Within each lesson there are many factors and variables that we must consider. What aspects of grammar will be part of the lesson, what activities do we want to include, the context of the class, what skill or task is being targeted (Harmer 2001, pp. 308-320).  We must also consider the allotted time, the objective of the lesson, how the lesson fits into our planning, problems that might be encountered, assessment, and our own evaluation of the lesson.  This seems like a huge long list of what needs to go into our lesson planning.  It may seem daunting.

I must admit that when I began this program, I felt a bit overwhelmed in the introductory course.  All these things that we must learn and remember.  However, as with our students, repetition does work!  While working on the lesson plan assignment for this course, my final course prior to the practicum, I can say that I feel much more comfortable with lesson planning and putting all the important bits together.  Now, if I could just remember all that grammar terminology!

Reference:
Harmer, J. (2004). The practice of English language teaching. Essex, UK: Pearson Education Limited.

Assessment and Corrective Feedback in Grammar Writing

Over this week, I have been thinking about all the types of assessment I have received of my writing over the many years of my schooling and career.  When I finished high school, I thought I was a fairly good writer.  However, at university I learned I had much more to learn, and I have continued to learn and sometimes think I have also regressed.  Fortunately, I have had many good writing mentors who have been very patient with corrections and guidance to help me improve.  Therefore, I feel an obligation to ensure that I am a very good example, and also have a very positive influence on the writing skills of my ESL students.  So how do I do that?

First, it is helpful to understand why students make certain errors.  Is it just part of the learning process (developmental errors), or are there other reasons.  In ESL the main reason is L1 interference (Harmer 2001), so understanding the contributions of their L1 for each individual can help to focus on they why, and work toward a correction.  For example, some languages do not have pronouns, or the same verb tenses. Some lack prepositions altogether.

There are several types of methods for corrective feedback and it seems that there is still much discussion amount scholars on what is best (Ellis 2008).  I believe that the method will varying depending on the context.  I also do not think that one method has to exclude another. The direct method give explicit guidance on error correction, while indirect methods tells the student there is an error but asks the student to correct it.  I would suggest that for some things that students should easily self-correct such as punctuation and spelling, an indirect method would be fine.  For more complicated grammar that students might not necessarily know, a more direct approach would be good.  Coding, using editing markings, is another approach.  However, students must learn the code (Harmer 2001).  Simpler versions of code can be used for lower level students.

However, I also remember the frustration of having to do all the corrections, with many rewrites sometimes. I think we have to keep this in mind with our learners, in that we have to encourage learning while trying not to increase frustration with their errors. This is why some suggest that we focus the error correction (Ellis 2008; Harmer 2001) to highlight a particular grammar feature to avoid over correction.

 I've noticed that some students take error correction in stride, while others get somewhat defensive, and some just don't want to be bothered much.  There is a whole range. And I think there are a number of factors which contribute to this (personality, L1 learning situation, motivation, etc).  Teachers need to be sensitive to their students, and act and react to the individual learner regarding error correction, because each will be different. Research does suggest that the teacher must give sincere individualized comments of constructive criticism for the student to improve (Harmer 2001).   Positive and negative comments must be balanced, appropriate, and foster improvement to be effective.

I think teachers can also be proactive in writing to ensure students are assessing their own work prior to handing it in. One thing I saw a teacher do, is to give students their own correction list prior to the writing exercise.  It was simple, such as 1) capital 2) periods 3) subject and verb, etc.  This reminded the students as they were writing, and then to check again when finished, helping with self-correction.  A simple reminder will often go a long way to improve outcomes.

Ellis, R. (2009, April). A typology of written corrective feedback types. ELT Journal, 63(2), 97-107.

Harmer, J. (2004). The practice of English language teaching. Essex, UK: Pearson Education
Limited.

Some of the tools in the grammar toolbox

I was recently chatting with some old friends about perhaps getting back to learning/brushing up on a second language.  I mentioned there are some good apps out there that some people do well with, but for me they were a boring way to learn.  I like learning with other people, in an experiential way, either in person or virtual.  However, my friend said one of her friends had good luck with one, but she wasn't sure if she would try one.  For me this highlights that there are difference instructional methods that work well for some and not for others.

The instructional methods for teaching grammar fall under a wide spectrum.  Because many students have differences in the way they learn or prefer to learn, I think it's important that we use a variety of methods in the classroom.

Thornbury (1999) gives a good summary of these approaches.  Grammar translation (translating from one language to another) may see like a relic from the past (going way back), but depending on the teaching context there may be some use for this method.  A class where you have learners with the same L1 may benefit from some grammar translation.  At the other end of the spectrum is the natural approach and deep-ended Communicative Language Teaching (CLT), where students learn from full language immersion with no rules for grammar teaching.  When I was a preschooler, I remember watching a French children's show called Chez Helene.  It was designed to teach French to English children without using English.   I loved it.  I think children can easily learn with these methods.

In between these methods on the spectrum are the Audio lingual and Direct Methods, which both claim to be more 'natural based'.  The Direct method focuses more on oral skills with little grammar instruction, requiring students to pick up the language from immersion, just as children learn language too.  The audiolingual method focuses on learned behaviour and uses a series of pattern drills.  Therefore, it's not surprising that it was developed to teach soldiers languages during the second world war, and is also called the Army Method (TEFL, n.d.).  Its primary focus is on the memorization of material. These methods might be very difficult for older learners where memorization of material can be difficult.

Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) (shallow-ended) is an inductive method that allows students to study material and work out the grammar rules themselves, so it falls closer to the Grammar Translation end of the scale with more focus on the rules of grammar.  In addition to these methods, there is also a movement to incorporate 'focus on form' and 'consciousness raising', which draw attention to the rules of grammar, helping students notice the features of the language (Thornbury 1999, pg. 24). This is very important, and without it, students can stall in their learning, risking fossilization of language. This develops critical thinking skills, and allows students to apply what they have learned.  This often requires more preparation and longer time periods, but is more learner-centered (Sikorzynska 1995).

My preference for teaching and learning of these grammar approaches would be the shallow-ended CLT.  I think it gives students a more balanced approach in learning and also encompasses a wider range of the way individual students learn. It provides both for experiential learning and the 'discovery' of the language, as well as guidance with rules of the language providing a scaffold for learning the language.

Lynch (n.d.) suggests the implicit teaching of grammar through acquisition and learning, combined with application of the skills in a task-based learning for the best approach for students to develop language skills.  However, there are some aspects of grammar that require an explicit or deductive approach which teaches the grammar rule, and then allows students to practice it.  This method sometimes works well for beginner learners, or with complicated grammar structures, such as prepositions, conjunctions, modal and phrasal verbs and other parts of language that are not common in many languages.

Betty Azar (2008) suggests that we really need a balance of approaches in teaching grammar. She describes a young man who the system utterly failed in grammar learning.  As a high school graduate and college student he was unable to write properly. The naturalist approach to language learning had failed him. It was an excellent example of fossilized usage with the student stuck with little knowledge of grammar rules.  This really emphasizes to me the importance of incorporating grammar teaching into language learning, and as Azar suggests you really need to use different approaches and include both grammar teaching and CLT.

Another factor in grammar teaching is distinguishing with learners that grammar in speech and grammar in writing can be very different (Crystal 2005; Bright 2012).  There are a number of aspects to consider such as more formality and structure in written grammar, especially in formats of essays, reports, letters, etc. Speech grammar is less formal and looser, with more colloquialisms and idioms, and partial sentences.  Also, when speaking there are more facial expressions and gestures which we rely on to make our point, whereas with the written word we must often work hard to express ourselves.  There are many other differences which we have to consider, but the main point I have garnered is to ensure that our students recognize and understand that speech grammar is often not the same as written grammar.

Every student is a different learner. Every class has a different makeup of learners. Every lesson has its nuances, difficulties and strengths. And one approach to teaching grammar does not fit all the time.  One of my co-learners (Theresa Hunt) made an important point this week, suggesting teachers are always adjusting as they go, even within a class.   As teachers one of the hardest things is to adapt and learn, often on the fly, to the context of our teaching.  With grammar teaching, as with other aspects of teaching English, it’s very important to have many tools in our toolbox.

References:

Azar, B. (2012, October 30). Teaching Grammar in Today's Classroom—Part 1 [Youtube video].
 Retrieved from https://youtu.be/YJwbnQOguEk
Bright, W. (2012). What’s the Difference between Speech and Writing? Linguistic Society of
America, Retrieved from https://www.linguisticsociety.org/resource/whats-difference-between-speech-and-writing

Crystal, D. (2005). Speaking and Writing. Toronto, ON: Pearson, Longman.

Lynch, L. (n.d.). Grammar Teaching: Implicit or Explicit. Retrieved
from https://www.eslbase.com/teaching/grammar-teaching-implicit-explicit

Sikorzynska, A. (1995). Discover it yourself. Wydawnictiwa Szkolne: Pedagogiczne.

Thornbury, S. (1999). How to teach grammar. Essex, UK: Pearson Education Limited.

How to teach grammar: sitting on the fence.

I've learned or attempted to learn three languages in my life so far.  English is my L1.  I learned French in high school and one class of German in university.  Right now I speak very little French, and remember only a few words of German, and much of the grammar rules of French and German are well beyond me.

My schooling was in the 60's and 70's, so there was quite a bit of focus yet on proper grammar. I vaguely remember some drills and worksheets in early school with less focus on learning (and more using) in high school.  I myself like rules and form and function, so was quite fine with that.  French was a lot of vocabulary and grammar with very little conversation practice.  By the time I took German in university, there was more emphasis on speaking, but still a large amount of grammar. The conjugation of verbs and sentence structure seemed to be a large part of the course, both of which seemed rather complicated to me.

So what is the best way to teach grammar in current practices?  Thornbury (1999) outlines a number of different historical arguments and methods, both for and against the formal teaching of grammar.  He suggests that teaching grammar rules are necessary for fine-tuning language from the written to the spoken, increasing linguistic competence, allowing for noticing of language to increase acquisition, breaking language down for digestability, transmitting knowledge about language, and satisfying learning expectation for grammar rules.  Those arguments for not teaching grammar are to learn by doing (experiential learning), developing grammar through our communicative competence, natural acquisition rather than formal learning, learning using chunks of language, and learner expectation of using conversation for learning grammar.
Thinking back on it now I believe that I would have retained more of the languages had I used them more in the classes in conversations, with a more practical approach to the language.  I think a balance between language acquisition through grammar teaching and natural language learning is required when teaching/learning a new language.  I have seen many people who have learned English through a mostly written experience and they have good grammar, but are greatly lacking in conversational skills. I have seen students regress in conversation skills when they advance to a class where the focus is more on writing and less on conversation.  However, I have also seen students who have picked up language only through daily conversation and listening, and many have terrible grammar. They tend to just pick chunks of language they know without the appropriate adjustment for tense, adverb, adjectives, etc.  So, a balance of grammar teaching and natural learning through conversation and listening is what I think is necessary for most learners.

Brown and Lee (2007) suggest that current approaches are a balanced methodology where grammar becomes a part of the overall teaching perspective, where techniques:
“-are embedded in meaningful, communicative contexts,
-contribute positively to communicative goals,
-promote accuracy within fluent, communicative language,
-do not overwhelm students with linguistic terminology,
-are as lively and intrinsically motivating as possible.”
They suggest that teaching grammar is essential and expedites the learning process.  I very much agree with this. Now the important aspect of this is how to practically incorporate grammar skills into our learning plans. That is what we are about to learn!


References:

Brown, H. D. and Lee, H. (2007). Form-Focused Instruction. In Teaching by principles: An
interactive approach to language pedagogy, 3rd Edition (pp. 419-442).

Thornbury, S. (1999). How to teach grammar, Chapter 2: Why teach grammar?